Monday, May 11, 2009

Ode to Cinema 1

Five blocks from my home, was my favorite video store. It was on Quentin Road and East 34th street. I pass by it now and look in at what was. Memories come flooding back to me as I look into an office building with a metal gate down. It is now a tan office with two leather chairs, a desk, and a cheap ninety nine cents store portrait of flowers. My best friend Joey Smith and I used to spend our summers there. We would arrive when the store opened and take a good hour to pick our B-movies for the day out. Creating our own personal Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The wall was painted with a thousand possibilities. However, our interests were strictly in the video boxes so dusty that no one had rented them since the eighties. Movies from companies that don't exist anymore such as Media Home Entertainment, Paragon, Vestron and Lightning Home Video. Movies with titles like Flesh Gordon, Slumber Party Massacre, If You Don't Stop Soon I'll Go Blind, and the adult fairy tale classic, Alice in Wonderland. (What can you say about a movie where Humpty Dumpty can't get it up anymore?) Sometimes we would even find a movie where some punks would hassle a Chinese waiter, and at the next table would be Chuck Norris. He would try to reason with the punks first, but when that failed he would deliver a kick to their skulls. Where was Chuck Norris when my video store was closing? Why couldn't this be like one of those pointless summer camp films where Joey and I keep the place from being bought by greedy land developers. (Special Appearance by Corey Feldman.)

The video store reeked of smoke from the older lady with thick red glasses behind the glass counter. When I was thirteen she always made sure Joey and I never rented dirty movies. The dirtier movies often had a sticker on the top that read "18". Man, I couldn't wait for the day I was old enough to rent Fritz the Cat, in it's beat down Warner Brothers box. Sunday and Mondays she always had off and that is when it was time to rent the fun stuff. Of course when we rented them on Tuesday, we often would get yelled at by her. The store may have never been much but it is a place that is gone. Much like childhood. The world keeps on changing before we have time to realize how long ago the past really is.

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Code Red DVD That You are Most Eagerly Anticipating?

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Anthony's Bloody Disgusting Flicks Coming to DVD:

Not everything horror related that comes to DVD is worth seeing, and a majority of them are current direct to video garbage. I only feel the need to mention the cult films worth seeing. Not all of them are horror but remain in the cult spirit. Some haven't even been seen since their theatrical releases.Note Worthy: In October Columbia will release a Director's Cut of Night of the Creeps.Riot on 42nd Street and Scream (1981) have been postponed indefinitely by Media Blasters! Along with Choke Canyon and Trapped has been changed to 8/47/7: Mystery Science Theater 3000: XV (Featuring Zombie Nightmare)TBA: Night of the DribblerTBA: Power Play!7/28: Torso7/28: Combat Shock: 2-Disc Never Before Seen Director's Cut8/11: TheWeekend Murders8/18: The Strangeness8/25: Stunt Rock9/29: 42nd Street Forever Volume 5: The Alamo Drafthouse Edition9/29: Stepfather 2

New and Improved: Mortuary (1983)

MORTUARY: This is one of the best slashers of all time. The film is creepy and affective. David Wallace is the bland lead that looks like something from The Village of the Damned. The performance of a very young Bill Paxton (Aliens) is very energetic. Paxton provides that raw untapped first time performance that reminds one of Steve McQueen in The Blob. He plays the lonely Mozart loving outcast son of a mortician (Christopher George). He puts all of himself into this strange performance and it is no wonder why he made it in the business. Also of note this is Christopher George's final film. He died of a heart attack shortly after. George was a pretty good actor whose career turned to exploitation at the end. He gave some truly terrible performances, but nothing funnier then his death scene in Enter the Ninja. In this film George is a little more subdued, but plays a very mean and one dimensional character. George and Paxton should have had a few more scenes together. The ending with the wedding party of corpses is both frightening and hysterical. This is a slasher movie that tries to be different and it deserves to be seen. It is refreshing to see a film try new concepts in the slasher genre.

About this site:

There was a time when B-Movies flooded Mom and Pop video stores. Movies so strange that the average movie lover often skips. I wanna take you on a journey back to those fun days, when you had no clue what you were renting. From companies like Media Home Entertainment, Paragon, and Vestron.

City Limits: Random Thoughts

City Limits: (1984) has to be one of the worst films ever made. The film is poorly done on every level.

Of note this contains an early appearance of Kim Cattrall

How did a film this inept get two stars: Robby Benson and James Earl Jones in cameos?

Also I hope they release this episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on DVD very soon.

What Movie from "42nd Street Forever Volume 4" are you most likely to check out?

About Me

Check out AcesOverBrooklyn.com

The Monkees: Head: Random Thoughts

One of my most embarrassing moments in High School was when a girl asked to borrow my copy of Head. She shouted, "Give me Head" in the hallway.

This movie spawned my very short lived nickname: Fuzy Wazy.I once brought this to party and it confused the hell out of friends. "I thought we were friends, why are making us sit through this". Brett asked me.

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